Loyalty programs have emerged as important tools allowing businesses to retain existing customers, and to gain new customers, by offering incentives based upon a volume and/or value of transactions conducted with a particular merchant. Common examples of popular loyalty programs include airline frequent flyer clubs, which allow a consumer to accumulate miles and then allow redemption of those miles for a free trip.
In recent years, loyalty programs have grown in both scope and complexity. For example, more recent types of loyalty programs are not exclusive to a particular product or service (i.e. airline miles), but instead utilize a methodology based upon generic points that may be accumulated based upon a variety of different purchases, for example utilizing a particular financial instrument such as a branded credit or debit card. In certain programs, redemption of accumulated points is not limited to a particular product, but can extend to a catalogue of available products. In other loyalty programs, accumulated points can represent a cash value redeemable for any purchase.
Traditionally, consumers were notified of the status of their participation in a loyalty program as a part of a periodic mailing, for example a monthly credit card billing statement. Telephone call centers were established to allow a user to make more immediate inquiries about their current standing with the loyalty program, and to take steps for redemption for benefits earned.
With the emergence of more complex loyalty programs, software systems have in turn been developed to manage them. Software products responsible for handling loyalty programs have, however, traditionally been confined to single merchants. Such software products manage only the loyalty program associated with that particular merchant location. Different copies of the same software product do not communicate with one another. Very often, these products only capture data at their respective locations and then forward the data to a central location on a periodic basis for merely reporting purposes. Remote access to these products from an external location is typically not provided at all or only on a minimal basis. Moreover, user interfaces for customers are usually nonexistent or lacking user-friendly features. This is because, under conventional practice, customers generally do not interact directly with the software product managing the loyalty program.
With electronic commerce moving onto the Internet, the management of loyalty programs has taken on a more centralized approach. The software product for managing the loyalty program is now generally located on a central server at a single location. Client computers located at merchant locations are used to communicate with the central server to process the desired loyalty transaction via the Internet. Furthermore, a large number of customers are conducting purchase transactions over the Internet, often in the convenience of their own homes or places of work. As a result, functions relating to a loyalty transaction that used to be performed by a store clerk may now need to be handled by the customer himself/herself.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide an interface component that is capable of providing more effective and user-friendly communications with a computerized loyalty program over a computer network.